Hi,
I'll be replacing the welch plugs on both sides of the engine (1st time they have been done), but I need to know is it possible to do the intake side welch plugs without removing the intake manifold? The rear engine plug will be done at a later date. I'll be removing the air filter housing to give me some room but is it easier to remove them from the top or underneath? Also does the dizzy need to be removed? Its been a top car with a great engine, having travelled 450,000 k's. The head gasket is still original, although it is leaking a little coolant near cyl No5. Any advice appreciated.
Thanks.

Last edited by TopGun on Fri Sep 15, 2017 6:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hi and welcome to Fordmods.

It will be near impossible to install the welch plugs properly without removing the intake manifold. They need to be tapped in at the correct angle with a socket and hammer. There's not much room to swing a hammer under there. The distributor needs to be removed to get to the welch plug behind. Hence, some guys opt to remove the engine to fix them (and the sump gasket as well).

IMO I'd replace the head gasket as well if you are removing the intake manifold. The leak will only get worse. Have you had the car since new? I thought the composite gaskets only lasted about 80 000km before they start leaking (which is why the AU MLS head gasket is popular).

Hi and Thankyou, Great forum. Thanks for the info. I'll have a think about which way to go about it now that I have your input. The car was 12 months old and had 40,000ks on the clock when we bought it from a reputable ford dealer. The logbook showed it belonged to a rural council, hence the high kilometres. Quite a few ks for one year, and the log book shows just the basic services. I've had the car since 1998, and have done most of the mechanicals and maintenence myself, and it really hasn't given us too many problems, but that head gasket has never been done. Genuine original head gasket. I have always used 20W/50 engine oil and the cooling system has always had an inhibiter in it. Would it be worthwhile doing the head gasket and then putting that high mileage head back on? The engine does go well so maybe it would.
Thanks again

If you are thinking of getting more work done to the head, then you'll have to toss up whether a high mileage engine is worth spending money on. A secondhand lower mileage engine is another option if you don't want to spend too much. I recently bought an EF engine for $200 which has been recoed recently. Luckily for me the engine had a badly leaking rocker cover and looked worse than it was .

With an engine crane, it takes 2-3 hours to remove the engine with 2 guys. I reckon you could swap an engine over in weekend if you take your time.

Good points. I've handed the car down to my son recently, and he doesn't do many ks, so I'm doing these plugs for now, but will definately be considering a second hand engine in the future. Thanks for your help.

Hi Top Gun,
I also have EL 6 and wondering about welsh plugs. I would like to know why you think the plugs need changing, what symptoms are there? Mine is using a fair bit of water, like several litres every few times its driven, but there is no sign of it dropping water anywhere. So I thought head gasket, but the engine isn't playing up and there is no water in the oil. Its also a little intermittent but most of the time the water is disappearing. Other day I noticed milky looking stains from back of engine running downward under exhaust manifold so I'm wondering if its welsh plugs and going into the exhaust. Are there hidden plugs that will leak into either exhaust or intake manifolds?

Hi acko,
The engine started losing more water than usual, so I had a look at the welch plugs under the exhaust manifold and sure enough, they had rusted through and swollen, allowing the coolant to leak out. You should see green stains (if your coolant is green, or possibly rusty if there is no coolant) running down the side of the engine block under the exhaust, possibly under the intake manifold welch plugs if its leaking from that side, or even coming from between the gearbox bell housing and the clutch/converter cover plate if its leaking from the rear welch plug. My head gasket leaks occasionally from the head gasket under the exhaust manifold as well, without affecting the engine performance, so have a good look in that area and maybe even take off the exhaust heatshield to give you a better look. The water can leak OUT of the engine as in my case, and not INTO the engine, and so not giving you the milky oil. The water won't leak into the exhaust manifold, so have a good look between the head and the engine block on the exhaust side and have a closer look at that milky stain at the rear of your engine. Other places to check are around the radiator, the radiator cap, header tank, water pump, hoses, thermostat housing and the steel pipe that goes from the back of the water pump and runs around the back of the motor under the exhaust manifold, and back to the thermostat housing. I changed the 5 plugs on the exhaust side and the water leaking out has stopped. I haven't changed the intake side plugs yet as they are not leaking and there is more involved in changing them, but I will be keeping an eye on them. Hope this helps.

Thanks Top Gun that does help a lot and will probably do same and pull exhaust manifold. I'm still curious though were the water I'm losing is going to as its definitely not coming out under car, only place I can think is out the exhaust.

It can also leak water from the water jacket past the damaged headgasket into the cylinder on the intake stroke, and you will lose some water there out of the exhaust, but that could also pressurize the cooling system on the compression stroke and cause leakage externally from the places I mentioned previously. Try removing the spark plugs and if you have one clean one and the others are dirty, you may have water leakage into that cylinder. You could also have the radiator gases tested at a mechanical shop. If a cylinder gets water into it overnight, that could also make the initial cranking of the engine sound very slow and then speed up once the water is pushed out. Finally maybe do a compression test and check if you have a low pressure in a cylinder, pointing to a problem there.

Thanks Top Gun, I had an old 202 Holden used to fill a pot with water when it was turned off, then it wouldn't crank. Turned out 30 thou rebore was too much and made it leak. Also had a leaky injector in an EBII Ford that would relieve the fuel rail pressure into the pot when swithed off making it difficult to crank so familiar with that symptom. Will probably pull the plugs and do a comp test before touching manifolds to save doing it all a second time. Would you believe also having nightmares with water loss on the EBII which has a 2yo water pump. Unfortunately the seal on the rear pipe into the pump is pissing water. Absolute pain to pull the pump to fix it.